The Wedding after the Divorce
by Marsetta
Summary: Dudley goes to his cousin's wedding after a nasty divorce.
**I litterally have no idea where this came from!**

 **Just, Read and read and read it! I used prompts 14/20 for February Event Teamwork. And also for Charms class.**

 **I don't own!**

 _ **ENJOY!**_

* * *

Dudley was sitting by himself, a glass of champagne in hand, listening to the wedding speeches.

"There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment." A redheaded man spoke, a glass lifted to the bride and groom, his cousin and his new wife.

Dudley didn't know why he came, why Harry thought it was a good idea to send him an invitation. He listened to the words of the man, and snorted into his glass. Love isn't that simple. He knew it couldn't be. If it were that simple, then he probably wouldn't be in the middle of a messy divorce, his wife having run off with another man, and living by himself in a rundown apartment, which was all he could afford after his wife stole almost everything from his account.

"May I sit?" A woman, about his age, was standing before him, her dark hair was up in a complicated looking bun, light makeup ghosted over her face, making her already pale skin look akin to moonlight.

Her eyes betrayed an Asian heritage.

"Please." He stood and pulled out her chair.

"I noticed that you were looking, a bit distracted. Do you not like that she is marrying him?" The woman looked up at the pair sitting happily at the front of the hall.

"Hardly, Harry's my cousin. I don't understand why he invited me to tell you the truth." Dudley shouldn't have drunk that last glass. Maybe he should move on to water?

"Oh. Then why do you look so sad?" The woman turned to him; her brown eyes looked like they were piercing his soul. He ended up spilling his whole story.

The next glass in his hand was full of water.

"That's horrible. She's a horrible person. Are you going to be okay?" The woman, he really needed to get her name soon, laid a hand on his bicep.

"If you need anyone to lean on," She hesitated, her eyes going to his sleeve. He knew that she was a witch, most of the people attending the wedding were magical of some kind, which was another deciding factor in his attendance, he needed to get away from muggles, even though he is one himself.

"I don't suppose you have a phone?" He had to ask. The woman's face took on a small smile.

"I do." She sounded flirty, which was not something he was used to. The last time someone flirted with him, he proposed six weeks later and after two years, they are getting a divorce...

"I, I've got to go." He told her suddenly, not getting her name before rushing out into the cold February air.

* * *

Harry saw his cousin dash out of the building. He hadn't kept in contact with the man after everything that happened, and had invited him as an afterthought. He didn't really understand anything that had been happening with him.

He saw Cho Chang talking to him, and then he left quickly, almost like Cho had burned him. Harry didn't think it was because she was a witch, he was sure Dudley had been talking to Mrs. Weasley earlier, and there is no way for anyone to mistake her for a muggle.

Harry was able to get away from the crowd and moved quickly to find his cousin hunched over on a stone bench in the gardens outside the hall.

"Dudley?" Harry moved closer to the man, he wasn't sure if he should continue, if he should push.

Dudley was bent in half, his head between his knees. He looked up at his cousin when he approached. He didn't want to talk about it. The wounds are still raw. It was bad enough he told a complete stranger.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked him, he bent down to be eye level with him.

"I'm fine." He said a bit snappishly, Harry backed away a bit. It was instinctual at this point, to get away from his cousin when he felt angry or, pretty much any other emotion. His cousin sounded a bit drunk, and maybe a little, shut off.

"I saw you running from Cho. Did she do anything? Or say anything?" Harry tried. Dudley sighed.

"You know, it's typical, that I, that, this happened, to me." Dudley's words came out slow, like he was trying to think of something to say but was unable to find it.

"I, I hurt you, for years. I was the worst. And now, everything that's happened to me, I deserve it. I don't deserve help or anything else." Harry was scared, he had never heard his cousin sound so, emotionless, so like he had given up.

"I forgave you. You were a kid, a bully, but a kid. We all make mistakes." Harry sat next to his cousin. Dudley didn't move.

"I can't." Dudley's voice was low. Harry didn't know what to do. So he did nothing.

* * *

 **So, Dudley met his wife while in college, and six weeks later proposed. His wife had been cheating on him pretty much since the beginning, he found out two years in. And during the divorce, she emptied the bank accounts and skipped the country.**


End file.
